Now, with the whole legal issue a cheque can be issued to a minor. A cheque CAN NOT be issued to a minor within law if it is based off a contest. The was to avoid this? it's not a contest. Now say if you were selecting 5 flashes from the portal (not judged by quality etc) at random - then issuing said cheque would indeed be illegal. But the fact remains that this is not necessarily a contest. This is parying someone for quality work within a pool of submissions.

A perfect example of this is when I do designs/webdesigns/screen printing for a band. Usually it starts off as the band asking, say 20 people to make a design/whatever. Say they postes it on a forum, "<insert band name here> is looking for some new merch. We are currently looking for designers and designs. Anyone interested please submit to thisisnotarealemail@fake.com". They then go about selecting the top designs and those who are selected will receive the money and recognition. Of course sometimes I am directly asked... but this is still a popular choice to get a little variety within the designs.

This is basically the case with this "cash for flash" idea. You (aswell as the independant voting team/authors in the pool selected/ however this is decided to be chosen) are looking through multiple submissions ans selecting the top five (just as if a band were selecting the top designs) and issuing them the money and regonition for having the highest quality/best work.

Hey, and if not... some other suggestions would be...

1. Make the "minor prize" product. Whether it be signed Wall prints, AH figures, T-shirts, you name it. Giving product toa minor has absolutly no legal issues (unless of course its... a dildo.... or a mysterious envolope titled "nakey tommy tom")

2. Set up a $250 USD credit at the NG store. I know I, aswell as alot of people would love to receive that just as much as cold hard cash.

etc. etc. etc.

Either way - that's just my two cents. I know you'll figure something out and like I've said before; I'm stoked to see how this runs through.

At first I thought it was kinda cool Tom, that you deciding to pay people $250, based on private votes (Probably Wade Fulp, Lil Jim, and the Retarded Mods) but then I thought to myself.. okay well if he is going to be giving money to the BEST submissions, more than likely those people are already getting paid for the shit they do, they don't need anymore money. Personally I would like to submit something this month but I don't have anything up my sleeve and I don't plan on making something mind-blowing that is worthy of $250. So I actually think this is not that great of an idea to do, not to mention there is going to be tons of underage kids sending in their shit submissions more than usual and attempt to have their daddy cash in the check *if they happened to win which is highly unlikely*. Blah, Tom, I wish you luck anyway, but your wasting your money. :P

My concern is legal issues. If we get an exceptional entry by someone under 18, we will have to consider our options. However, it is a bad legal move to just send a minor a check.

Well, I don't know how much trouble you want to go through, but you may be able to send it to the parent/guardians of the artist, if he/she is under 18. That should take care of most of the legal issues.

Manufacture a special preloader, or symbol or sOMthing , that you can download to indicate u wish to participate in the contest.. and/ or make it a rule you have to put your name within the flash .
just a though.

good though.

hey, what about "things" like miniclip.com and others ?
we lovenewgrounds, but they dont.
they submit convenient propaganda.

I dont really care about the money, if there are any animators/graphic designers that want to work with me in making a game please contact me, Im pretty sure we can get to the top, depending on the quality of the graphics (I can program, but I cant draw), so if happen to win you can have the money.

Glad to see my idea has been so well received.
I'm really interested in seeing how this whole thing pans out.

Also, if the whole system is setup for flash artists but not professional animators/corporate studios, who determines what qualifies as a regular artist and a pro studio? That'll create a whole new level of bitching and moaning.

I am the sole owner of the company, so I can either pay the money to myself, or to other people. It's basically my money when it comes down to it.

I guess that means Wades just your little bitch. I thought you were equal on this site, but no, you're a selfish assole arn't you. i bet you act like a big hot-shot now too, then you think back to a kid and realize the person that started Newgrounds would probably kick your ass. this is more business to you than anything else. Poor Wade, help a brother out you're heartless

Maybe its time you get drunk and remenice, then you can change your business man asshole self

For all of you people that think $250/month will make people start doing this as a job or any sort of means of income, you obviously know nothing about life after school. $250 is nothing compared to what is needed to pay rent, buy food, etc. It's enough for a prize, which is just what it's for. Nobody is gonna quit their day jobs to animate all day for a CHANCE to win $250.

If anybody is really going to dedicate all their time just because there's a monetary incentive, I feel sorry for you. You probably still ive with your parents and don't have to pay for rent, tuition, food, and every bill that comes with daily life.

$250 will help stimulate artists, but it shouldn't be the sole reason to do it.

At 2/18/05 07:15 PM, Vinstigator wrote:
Hell yeah, perfect timing. I got a flash I've been working on for months and it's almost done. And since my last movie made front page (thanks again Tom!), I think I got a pretty good shot at this :D

um, why do you think you'll get something? you use other people's music and sprites and then combine them in a bad way. i think what tom meant was if you make something like fallen angel or arogancy then you get it. that's where all the talent is put

i guess i could try improving my drawing skills (or what i have of it) and enter but i'm only 15 so i can't get anything :(
then again my brother's 18 soon and he can draw better than the guy who made fallen angel so he'd have a shot maybe?

Hey Tom! I went down to EB Games yesterday and I asked the guy at the counter how Alien Hominid was selling there. He said that every time they recieved a copy it got sold on the same day! I'm glad a preordered mine!

At 2/19/05 03:11 PM, Tom_s00 wrote:
Tom what will happen if somebody steals a submission and by chance it wins, but this is only made apparent after the money has been given to the winner....

If the author accepts the money and then we find it was stolen we could probably get him/her arrested for plagirism (we might be able to do with any stolen work but we should only do it in you're scenario since money's involved).

I have had a lot of trepedation about this idea. Once money is involved, things change. Artists will start to "do it for the money" and will be resentful when they don't win. If we start to pick up on that, we will eliminate the prizes.